With one of the most important jobs in corporate America in his sights — Ford employs over 180,000 people, runs 65 plants around the world and sold a little over 6.3 million vehicles last year — what do we know about Mr. Fields? Here’s some detail from the WSJ’s coverage in recent years.

First up, the basics: Mr. Fields is 52, a native of New Jersey who studied at Rutgers University and later, Harvard Business School. After earning his MBA there, he worked for IBM, later joining Ford. Before being tapped to run the company’s North American operations in 2005, he had been running Ford’s European operations, and previously its luxury autos group, which included Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. Before that, he had been president of Ford affiliate Mazda Motor Corp.

His big achievement? Running the company’s North American operations through the grueling years of the financial crisis. A big part of that was helping lead a restructuring that the car maker emerged from as a profitable and growing global player, and one that hasn’t required a government bailout.

After the jump, some more insight into a man you’re likely to hear plenty more about in the coming months.

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